Croatia News - CroatiaPress.com

Zagreb, March 11 (CP) — The European Brand Institute from Vienna has awarded the most valuable brand award in Croatia to Croatian Radio Television (HRT).

The value of the HRT brand has been put at €126 million.

According to the survey on the value of brands Eurobrand 2007, the total value of the 10 leading Croatia brands stands at €730 million.

While HRT is the leading brand in Croatia, it is in 537th place in Europe.

Zagreb, March 11 (CP) The fishermen guild from the Zadar county has organised a peaceful protest in the Zadar port due to the government lacking decisiveness in the issue of the Protected Ecology and Fisheries Zone (ZERP).

It was stated that the fishermen were not against EU membership, but said Croatia cannot enter the EU without first protecting its sea that has been feeding Croats for centuries.

The protest comes after the government has decided to let go of ZERP implementation against EU countries in a bid to secure unimpeded EU accession negotiations in hope of completing them until 2009.

Zagreb, March 11 (CP) – Attorney Ante Nobilo, a former ICTY lawyer for Tihomir Blaskic claims that no one in their right mind would deny that war crimes were committed during the war in Croatia and someone needs to be made responsible for them.

Nobilo said this commenting the course of the proceedings at the ICTY against Croatian generals Ante Gotovina, Mladen Markac and Ivan Cermak which began on Tuesday for war crimes committed during the 1995 operation Storm.

Nobilo said that the politics waged by late Croatian president Franjo Tudjman incited ethnic intolerance as well as those perpetrating such crimes and other crimes against Croatian Serbs not being tried.

Zagreb, March 11 (CP) — At the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague today, trial procedures begin in the case against Croatian generals Gotovina, Markac and Cermak.

The prosecution has announced that it intends to call 134 witnesses, while an unusual 209 working hours has been approved for their questioning.

The general’s attornies are optimisitc and claim they will be successful in opposing the indictement.

At a pre-trial conference yesterday the final judge was appointed to the court council presiding over the procedures.

The three generals are on trial for war crimes committed during operation Storm in Croatia in 1995.  

Zagreb, March 10 (CP) – Just a few days before the start of the long-awaited trial of generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac, the Croatian government has decided to forward to The Hague Tribunal (ICTY) Interior Ministry documents dating from the time of the Storm operation.

The chief prosecutor in the Storm case, Alan Tieger has said at the pre-trial hearing on Monday that this evidence may be extremely important.

It seems that the papers have not as yet reached The Hague.

According to unofficial sources, the documents in question contain reports of local police stations as well as the Gracac special police commander Zeljko Sacic forwarded to his commander Mladen Markac.

Sacic has said that nothing in the said documents could in any way harm the generals, but just the opposite. He claims that they confirm that everything was done by the book in a dignified and humane manner.

Markac’s attorney Goran Mikulicic sees the introduction of such important documents into the case such far down the road as not being incorrect and irregular.

He said that prosecutors would have to explain why the documents were being introduced four years after Markac’s indictment. Mikulicic added that once the defence sees the documents it would be able to decide on whether it is to oppose their introduction.

Generals Gotovina, Markac and Cermak have been indicted for war crimes committed in 1995 during operation Strom.

Zagreb, March 10 (CP) – Croatia has announced on Monday it was refraining from implementing the Protected Ecology and Fisheries Belt (ZERP) against EU countries. The news was announced by the president of the National Committee for Monitoring EU Negotiations Vesna Pusic.

This basically means that ZERP has been returned to what it was two months ago, a possibility which is not implemented.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, PM Ivo Sanader said that the ruling coalition had agreed that the implementation of ZERP was of national interest, but stressed that as far as the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) was concerned EU membership was more important, while the Croatian Peasants’ Party (HSS) had to decide for itself on this.

As soon as the news of Croatia’s decision reached him, the EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn reacted by saying such a decision would mean the lifting of an obstacle and this would give impetus to Croatian accession talks with the EU.

The President of the Council of the European Union, Slovene Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said upon learning of this that Croatia had signed an agreement regarding ZERP and it needs to adhere to what it had signed.

Croatia has announced the start of the implementation of ZERP for EU members as of January 1, 2008, but this stirred such reactions from Slovenia and Italy, as well as the EU and threats of talks on Croatia’s EU membership being all but halted that it decided to back down.

Zagreb, March 10 (CP) – An incident occurred at a Women’s Regional Basketball League game between host Gospic and Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda teams on Sunday in Gospic, as the Serbian players appeared wearing t-shirts with Kosovo Is Serbia written on them.

After both the Health Minister Darko Milinovic who was attending the game and the Gospic mayor intervened, the delegate at the game demanded that the players take off the disputed shirts.

Zagreb, March 10 (CP) — The pre-trial conference in the case of Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac ended some half an hour after in began at the ICTY in The Hague on Monday morning.

It was established that the prosecution has the right to present 134 witnesses and put forth its evidence during 210.5 hours.

On Tuesday, the actual start of proceedings, the prosecution will have the opening word and attempt to explain the indictment against the three Croatian generals for the crimes committed during and following operation Storm in 1995.

Gotovina’s defence is to have its opening word on Wednesday, while on Thursday the first prosecution witness will be taking the stand.

Zagreb, March 9 (CP) – Croatian skier Ivica Kostelic came in second at the Kranjska Gora slalom in Slovenia, after coming in third in the first run.

It’s been five years since Kostelic last stepped onto the winners podium in Kranjska Gora.

Manfred Moelgg from Italy was the winner of the race, this being his first win ever, while Austrian Marcel Hirscher was in third place.

Sadly, the Croatian skier is no longer a contender for the small crystal globe, as he is in fourth place in the slalom standings, while in overall standings Kostelic is sixth.

The season’s last stop of the skiing circuit is in Bormio, Italy where all disciplines in both men’s and women’s skiing will be competed in.

Zagreb, March 9 (CP) – A 15-year-old girl was shot and seriously by an unknown assailant while she was walking in Maksimir park in Croatia’s capital on Saturday evening.

The girl was taking a stroll with a 29-year-old friend when the shooting came about and was taken to a nearby hospital where she had surgery.

The victim is in serious condition, although not a life-threatening one.

The police have launched an investigation and search for the shooter. The weapon used is believed to be an air pistol.
The Park is a venue of family outing and is not known for such incidents. Among other sites it contains the Zagreb ZOO, a popular destination with Zagreb families.